Series by Ben Counter about the titular Grey Knights chapter of Space Marines. It follows the exploits of Justicar Alaric and his squad battling various daemonic and chaotic enemies of the Imperium.

The series currently encompasses three novels: ''Grey Knights'', ''Dark Adeptus'', and ''Hammer of Daemons'', which have since been collected in an omnibus.

There is also an unrelated novel by Aaron Dembski-Bowden entitled ''The Emperor's Gift'' which chronicles the Grey Knight's role in the first war for Armageddon.

Please resist the urge to put examples on this page or link to this page on tropes unless you are citing from 40K '''novels''' in which the Grey Knights feature. Examples which are specific to rulebooks or other in-universe fluff should go on either the [[TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}} 40K page]] or in the Space Marines section of the [[Characters/Warhammer40000CurrentImperialFactions Imperial factions page]].

----!!Tropes connected with the Grey Knights themselves include:

* BadassCreed - The Canticle of Absolution is pretty long ([[NumberOfTheBeast 666 words]], to be precise), so different parts get quoted throughout the novels.--> I am the Hammer! I am the Hate! I am the woes of Daemonkind!** The fandom has produced several approximations, though [[http://fallfromgrace78.wordpress.com/2006/10/14/the-canticle-of-absolution-of-the-grey-knights/ this one]] at least is a few words too short.* BaitAndSwitch: In the 7th Edition Codex, the Knights encounter a force of Adeptas Sororitas that survived on a planet invaded by daemons. You expect that to be a retelling of the much hated Khornate Knights incident; that is, that any moment the Knights will start slaughtering the Sisters and painting their armor with their blood... but no. The Sororitas die a proper heroic death in battle, while saving the Knights. They still die, of course, but... [[TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}} you know how it is]].* BladeOnAStick: All Grey Knights are armed with Nemesis force weapons that are charged with their [[PsychicPowers psychic energy]]. There are customised Nemeses, but the standard issue one is a force halberd [[strike:with a built-in [[{{BFG}} boltgun]]]] designed to complement the [[{{BFG}} compact stormbolter]] [[ArmCannon worn on the other arm]].** [[RetCon Older editions had the stormbolter built into the force-halbered itself.]]* BlingBlingBang: See below. Not only their armor is blingy, but their guns as well.* BlingOfWar: While Grey Knights don't paint their armor at all, sporting a [[ColorCodedForYourConvenience grey gleam]] of a polished ceramite (a rarity among Space Marines), they more than enough make for it with various purity seals, sacred engravings, votive chains, blessed skull ornaments, ''holy unguents'' and other bling to end as one of the more ''fabulous'' chapters. And the funniest thing here is that it all ''[[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve works.]]''* ChurchMilitant: Not exactly church, as they are formally allied with Ordo Malleus of [[StateSec Inquisition]], which is formally a secular organisation, but still the one of the most pious and religion-heavy chapters. In fact, they even view their piety as a weapon.* ColourCodedForYourConvenience: They are called ''Grey'' Knights for a reason -- it's the color of unpainted ceramite of their armor, which they just polish to a high sheen to show off their [[IncorruptiblePurePureness pureness]]. And to drive the point home they use ''a lot'' of [[BlingOfWar gold trimmings]] and [[TheCape snow-white cloaks]] as accessories.* DemonicPossession: Averted. No Grey Knight has ''ever'' fallen to [[TheCorruption Chaos]] even though every one of them are psychics [[KryptoniteFactor (and thus especially vulnerable to it)]].** Ironically some new fluff heavily implies their true Primarch is Horus. * DemonSlaying: ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin -- it's their job description. They slay various [[EldritchAbomination Daemons of the Warp]] for TheEmperor.* DepletedPhlebotinumShells: As they are specialist chapter geared to fighting [[EldritchAbomination Daemons]], their armory fully reflects this and includes all the manners of anti-Daemonic weaponry, including literal Holy Water-charged bolter shells.* {{Determinator}}: One of the premiere examples in the setting. Only Black Templars, Blood Angels (during the [[UnstoppableRage Black Rage]]) and ''Necrons'' might be consistently in the same league. It's also noted that Inquisitors, while not in the same league, are also much stronger-willed than most folks.* EliteMooks: You can hardly get more elite than that, after all said.** When your Primarch is possibly the Emperor himself...** This is even discussed in the codices and comes into play on the tabletop. It is entirely possible to end up fielding only fifteen models. This will not stop them from carving through several times that number, but if somebody gets lucky with his lasgun it's going to hurt you a lot more than it would with a different army.* EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys: Their new Codex allows you to field Jokaeros, super-intelligent (though strangely enough non-sapient, thereby circumventing the Imperium's anti-alien policies by being counted as livestock) orangutan-like aliens (bioengineered by the same AbusivePrecursors who made the Orks and Eldar, incidentally) [[LethalJokeCharacter who wear special rings that shoot lasers, masers and]] ''[[IncendiaryExponent fire]]''. In fact it's possible to take ''nothing but'' laser apes if you have Inquisitor Coteaz as your commander.* ForeverWar: Uncounted trillions have died since the Emperor ascended to his Golden Throne, but the Imperium has endured for ten thousand years.* HeKnowsTooMuch: The Grey Knights' existence is kept secret from most of the Imperium, and if they are ever forced to fight alongside other Imperial forces, they erase the evidence either through [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness executions]] or LaserGuidedAmnesia.** Well minus SpaceWolves, as censuring the wolves proved to be too costly to pursue.*** Also, the latest Codex says Marines are sometimes simply sworn to secrecy.* HopelessWar: They are 5000 super soldiers versus an infinite number of immortal {{Eldritch Abomination}}s, the most powerful of which are [[PhysicalGod Demi-Gods]] who can shape entire worlds to their will. Add human allies that number in the ''billions'', and you can start to see the problem.* HumansAreWarriors: Very few beings in the galaxy can go toe to toe with a Grey Knight.* IncorruptiblePurePureness: Basically their whole schtick. They're so incorruptible that ''not one'' of them ever fell to Chaos. Of course, the ''way'' they achieved such honor was... Well, [[CrapsackWorld it's]] [[TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}} 40K]] after all.** [[PuritySue This has been retconned in the fifth edition codex to where the Grey Knights are naturally immune to Chaos and they can casually get away with using chaotic texts and harbouring corrupt items without risk or retribution from the Inquisition.]] [[DoubleStandard They will turn a blind eye to Inquisitors that turn up to battle with a dozen daemonhosts and carrying daemon weapons.]] [[MoralDissonance They're also now known for freely making deals with aliens, and slaughtering loyal servants of the Emperor (resilient Sisters of Battle, to be precise) to smear their armour with their blood in order to defeat an artefact of the blood god Khorne.]] Though granted this has been declared discontinuity by the majority of 40K's fan base.** To be fair the Grey Knight with the daemon weapon isn't using it power, only keeping guard of it. ** And YMMV on the rest of it. The Grey Knights keep tainted artefacts and Chaos texts so that they can know their enemy, the better to defeat them. Some artefacts, like Castellan Crowe's blade, can't be destroyed so the Knights have to keep them locked up. And they may have to tolerate a Renegade Inquisitor but there are limits, and the tolerance comes from the fact that the GK serve the Inquisition, they do not have the right to judge them. Only another Inquisitor can do that. And yeah they make deals with aliens, like the Eldar, Necrons and Jokaero, because they recognize that Chaos is the ultimate enemy and that the xenos are a far lesser threat and may even be fighting Chaos in their own way. The GK concern themselves with Chaos, nothing else. And as for the Sisters of Battle incident that can be explained in a certain way; the GK kill the Sisters of Battle so that their innocent blood will provide a shield against the Bloodtide that has been unleashed in that battle, without it even their armour would falter before it and they wouldn't have been able to approach the Daemon. Killing those Sisters is a smaller scale example of what the Imperium does all the time, sacrificing something for a greater good. If the Sisters had been told they probably would have volunteered for it.* InitiationCeremony: Fairly standard for more pious chapters, but the preparations for it, and especially tests the aspirants get subjected to are such that hardly anything could be compared to it for sheer unpleasantness -- see TheSpartanWay below.* IronicHell: Supreme Grand Master Kaldor Draigo is trapped in the warp, where he is forced to battle all of the forces of Chaos for eternity. He has performed many deeds there that are clearly impossible, from dueling Greater Daemons and winning to tearing down entire fortresses. No matter what he does or how hard he fights, winning victories beyond even the Primarchs, everything is undone and reset to normal as soon as he moves on. Interpretations are divided between this making him a MarySue of staggering proportions or a sign that the Chaos gods are just screwing with him.* MagicKnight: They are the only [[SuperSoldier Space Marines]] chapter to consist ''entirely'' of [[PsychicPowers psykers]]. And in 40K that's basically ''bad'', as it makes you much more prone to TheCorruption. However they are so BadAss, that it doesn't matter much to them, making them even more CursedWithAwesome than any other psyker.* MercyKill: Their motive for killing civillians in daemon infestations. Given its 40k, their logic isn't that insane.* MiniMecha: With the coming new army book, I give you [[http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?prodId=prod1160010a the Nemesis Dreadknight]]!* NoSuchAgency: The Grey Knights are officially an urban legend, with only a couple of other Space Marine chapters (the {{Space Wol|f}}ves and BloodRavens) aware of their existence. In addition, they are considered the militant arm of the Ordo Malleus, making them soldiers of the Inquisition. Anyone else who fights alongside them are either killed or mind-wiped after the war is over in order to preserve their secrecy.* NumberOfTheBeast: The InitiationCeremony of a new aspirant include 666 Rites of Emperor -- psychic tests explicitly compared to MindRape, that ''most'' testees fail -- either by subjecting to Chaos, or simply going insane.** The Grey Knights are also Chapter Number 666, of (an estimated) 1,000. Since there were only a few dozen when they were founded, this caused significant confusion and was probably a joke by their founder Malcador.* ThePaladin** PragmaticHero: What they really are. They will happily let a dozen worlds burn, just for a chance to take down a major daemon. * SpaceMarine* TheSpartanWay: Grey Knights is one of the (if not ''the'') chapter with the strictest selection procedure among the loyalist Marines -- and that's ''before'' any psychic tests begin -- see NumberOfTheBeast entry. And after ''that'' the [[LaserGuidedAmnesia aspirants' memories are flushed]] to ensure that they don't have any attachments [[TheCorruption the Chaos]] could exploit as weak points, which ''also'' leads to a fairly high number of subjects going insane. In short, [[WeHaveReserves the rejection rate]] among the aspirants would make [[MadScientist Fabius Bile]] proud.* SealedEvilInACan: Castellan Crowe is a walking one. He keeps guard of an InfinityPlusOneSword but never uses its power, instead he just uses it as a normal sword, relying on his skills.* StoryBreakerPower - The entire chapter as of the fifth edition codex. Both terms of fluff and game rules.* SuperpoweredMooks: See MagicKnight entry. Psykers are common among Space marines, but no other chapter consists ''solely'' of them.* SuperSoldier: Rather self-evidently.* TrainingAccident: Inverted. According to the 7th edition, a daemon tried to sneak onto Titan as a recruit. Another recruit (and a future Knight) defeated him, ''never even realizing it wasn't part of the tests''.* WhoYouGonnaCall: The first number you should remember when there's a Daemon in your backyard. Not that their arrival [[CrapsackWorld would make things much better]], but at least you would have chance to [[DyingAsYourself Die As Yourself]], instead of a terrible Chaos monstrosity.** Actually they're the last.*** Given the Imperium's penchant for covering up their existence either by mind wiping or plain executing those who've encountered the Grey Knights, it's a safe bet that if somebody with the authority to call them in is involved, things have already gone horribly downhill.

!!Tropes connected with the Grey Knights book trilogy are:* AncestralWeapon: Grand Master Mandulis's sword.** Interesting in that it turns out that the sword was needed to revive a daemon and was subsequently destroyed.* AnyoneCanDie: Even "veterans" like [[spoiler: Haulvarn]] can get killed off.* ArcWords: "Survival is not Enough."* AristocratsAreEvil: Duke Venalitor.* BadassCreed: As [[SergeantRock Justicar Alaric]] [[CrowningMoment/{{Warhammer40000}} said]]:-->"We do not know what our chances of survival are, so we fight as if they were zero. We do not know what we are facing, so we fight as if it was the dark gods themselves. No one will remember us now and we may never be buried beneath Titan, so we will build our own memorial here. The Chapter might lose us and the Imperium might never know we existed, but the Enemy -- the Enemy will know. The Enemy will remember. We will hurt it so badly that it will never forget us until the stars burn out and the Emperor vanquishes it at the end of time. When Chaos is dying, its last thought will be of us. That is our memorial -- carved into the heart of Chaos. We cannot lose, Grey Knights. We have already won."* BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind: In ''Hammer of Daemons'' [[spoiler:Alaric ]] fights against a daemon that tries to possess him. [[spoiler: He finally wins by the way of Taking You With Me, but survives.]]* {{BFS}}: Duke Venalitor has one of these.* TheBlacksmith: There's one of these in ''Hammer of Daemons'', implied to be ex-Salamander.* BloodyMurder: Duke Venalitor can weaponise shed blood as prehensile tendrils.* BodySurf: [[spoiler: Magos Antigonus]] manages to do this thanks to some LostTechnology.* BreathWeapon: Lord Ebondrake, taking the form of a large dragon, can breathe black flame.* ConvectionSchmonvection: Averted in ''Dark Adeptus'', where a villain holds Alaric a distance from an active fusion reactor, causing him to start toasting.* DespairEventHorizon: Some Guardsmen are mentioned as having "finally lost the will" when they think Alaric has fallen to Chaos.* DodgeTheBullet: [[spoiler: Ligeia's death cultists]] do this.* DropTheHammer: Dvorn's Nemesis weapon.* DualWielding: Alaric briefly wields both an axe and a hammer simultaneously in ''Hammer of Daemons'', though he's not the only one.* DueToTheDead: Alaric insists on going to where Ligeia died to pray for her soul.* EnemyCivilWar: Alaric incites this between the Draakasi Chaos lords in ''Hammer of Daemons''.* EnemyMine: The first novel briefly mentions the underhive gangs of Volcanis Ultor uniting to fight a gang of Chaos followers.* FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler:Legeia]].* FacelessGoons: Shows up sometimes, with the Mechanicus tech-guard in ''Dark Adeptus'' receiving a LampshadeHanging.* FeedTheMole* FiveRoundsRapid: Alaric is aware that even bolter shells aren't much good against [[spoiler: St. Evisser reanimated.]] Before him, there was Grand Master Mandulis, who recognised the futility of using his storm bolter against Ghargatuloth's physical body.* FoeTossingCharge* GambitRoulette: [[spoiler:Ligeia's FaceHeelTurn was a painful risk to learn Ghargatuloth's true name and hope that Alaric would trust her enough to not discount the supposed gibberish she kept saying when she was questioned, and then to use that name to weaken the Daemon Prince enough to be able to kill him. You'll be able to guess that she never really turned on them if you remember how Ligeia described her death cultists' beliefs and devotions.]]* GeniusBruiser: Alaric is one, if only in comparison to his fellow Space Marines.* GladiatorGames* GladiatorRevolt* GoMadFromTheRevelation: The Balurians from the first novel don't take seeing the tomb of St. Evisser well.** This is also the reason for [[spoiler: Legeia's FaceHeelTurn]].* GuileHero: Alaric ascends to this after his plan to defeat the Chaos Lords of Drakaasi succeeds.* HealingFactor: The Grey Knights have better-than-human regeneration, though severe stuff still needs an apothecary. The [[spoiler: Father of Titans]] from ''Dark Adeptus'' has a self-repair mechanism too.* HeWhoFightsMonsters: Alaric expresses this concern to Nyxos after his escape from Drakaasi.* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Valinov does this by [[spoiler: killing Riggensen, who broke him, with the execution device meant for him originally.]]* IKnowYourTrueName: [[spoiler: Ligeia]] babbles [[spoiler: Ghargatuloth's]] True Name, which is picked up and used by Alaric.* KickTheDog: Alaric spouts stolid KnightTemplar dogmatisms from time to time to remind us that he's not a "pure white" hero.* KillEmAll* LastRequest* LastStand* LetsYouAndHimFight: The end result of Valinov's taking advantage of the Grey Knights' secrecy and unknown status in order to paint them as Chaos Marines.* LickingTheBlade: Mentioned in passing as done by some priests of Khorne.* LightningBruiser: The Grey Knights, though they're far from the only ones.* LosingYourHead: Happens to [[spoiler: Thalassa]].* LostTechnology: How [[spoiler: Magos Antigonus]] survives, as well as the [[spoiler: Father of Titans]].* TheMole* MultiArmedAndDangerous: Various Techpriests in ''Dark Adeptus'', Skarhaddoth and other Chaos beasties in ''Hammer of Daemons''.* NeckLift: The Chaos Marine Urkrathos does this to Rear Admiral Horstgeld in ''Dark Adeptus''. The former explicitly circles the latter's neck with his fingers. Duke Venalitor also does this.* NeverFoundTheBody: Defied in ''Grey Knights'', where the Inquisition lands the GK redemptor force on Khorion IX specifically because they need eyes on the ground to see Ghargatuloth die.* NotQuiteDead: [[spoiler: Magos Antigonus]] in ''Dark Adeptus''.* OffWithHisHead: How Tancred kills [[spoiler: St. Evisser reanimated]].* OurDragonsAreDifferent: Lord Ebondrake takes the form of one.* OutOfTheInferno: The Knights did this against burning fuel in the first novel, while Lord Ebondrake's Ophidian Guard do this thanks to their armour being proof against his BreathWeapon.* PraetorianGuard: The Ophidian Guard.* {{Pride}}* RedRightHand: Inverted in the first novel, where [[spoiler: the Allking of Sophano Secundus and his retainers]] pass for normal at first and only reveal their Chaos taint after they are rumbled.* RightHandVersusLeftHand: The secrecy of the Grey Knights is used to rouse other Imperial troops against them by Valinov.* ShroudedInMyth: The Grey Knights are secretive and unknown even by the standards of other Space Marines, which Valinov from the first novel uses against them.* SpaceIsNoisy: The prologue for the first novel takes place on a daemon world whose surface is covered with so many mutilated cultists that their screams are audible from orbit.* TakingTheBullet: [[spoiler: One of Ligeia's death cultists]] takes a plasma blast for Valinov.** Earlier in the same book, another of them does this for [[spoiler: Ligeia herself]].* UncannyValley: An eldar is described InUniverse as falling into the valley. He ''did'' turn out to be [[spoiler: a dark eldar mandrake]], so perhaps this isn't so surprising.* VoiceOfTheLegion: Raezazel the Cunning has this.* WarForFunAndProfit: [[spoiler: The Castigator claims that this is his motivation.]]* {{Wishplosion}}: When Raezazel tries to convince [[spoiler:Alaric to be possessed]], he claims that he'll make any wish come true. The wish he gets to try and fulfill?-->''I wish for a world where your kind cannot exist.''

!!Tropes connected with The Emperor's Gift are:* BadAss: Logan Grimnar butchers a Grey Knight Grandmaster before the latter can even draw his weapons. He can also run in Terminator Armour and is pretty much the only person to ever tell the Inquisition to go fuck itself and actually get away with it.* BigRedDevil: Angron and his fourteen Bloodthirster bodyguards.* UsefulNotes/ColdWar: Between the Inquisition and the Space Wolves after Armageddon. It turns hot after the Inquisition fires on the Space Wolf flagship under the guise of a truce.* TheCorruption: Chaos, natch. The taint surrounding the demons invading Armageddon is so great that itís enough to corrupt even inanimate materials like the metal hull of a spaceship.* FemaleGaze: Hyperion recalls sharing a shower with some of Inquisitor Jarlsdottyr's warband, who verge upon being an AmazonBrigade. Being completely asexual, he notes that they state how 'impressed' they are, though he doesn't understand the reference.* GoodIsNotNice: Invoked by Hyperion as he duels Grimnar, telling him that the Imperium of Man isn't a fabled empire of joy where the most moral course of action is the best but a brutal place that is constantly under desperate siege within and without. The Grey Knights, as the Emperor's Gift, know what they have to do is often horrific but the alternatives are worse and they will not stint in their duty.* HeroKiller: Angron, who along with his daemonic honour guard slaughters his way through over a hundred Grey Knight Terminators like it was nothing, including several of the main characters.* IDidWhatIHadToDo: The Inquisitionís, and also Hyperionís, excuse for slaughtering the civilians and guardsmen who took part in the campaign to retake Armageddon.** The Space Wolves resort to using teleporter technology to escape their enemies when the armistice goes awry. Traditionally, the Space Wolves despise using it as it is very dangerous and inaccurate.* IncorruptiblePurePureness: No Grey Knight has ever fallen to Chaos. According to Hyperion the Grey Knights themselves are uncertain why this is, although most think that their gene-seedís [[TheEmperor source]] has something to do with it.* KnightTemplar: The Inquisition, of course.* LackOfEmpathy: Hyperion repeatedly mentions that he finds reading normal peopleís expressions and understanding their motivations extremely hard.* LaserGuidedAmnesia: Every Grey Knight has this done to them before their training begins. Also the fate of anyone who actually sees a Grey Knight in the flesh, assuming they arenít simply murdered outright.* LightningBruiser: Tactical Dreadnought armour looks as though it should be heavy, lumbering and very restrictive, however most of the characters who wear it are still able to actand fight faster and more effectively than those in 'normal' Power Armour. Most notably Logan Grimnir, who can move so fast in his suit that he was able to draw his axe, swing it and kill another Terminator-clad character before anyone else in the room could even react.* LongDeadBadass: Many of these are witnessed by Hyperion when he passes through the Dead Fields on Titan, where the fallen Grey Knights are laid to rest.* MagnificentBastard: Logan Grimnir. Despite defying the Inquisition and being responsible for killing Imperial forces like the Grey Knights, only the truly deluded and doomed characters fail to admire his cunning and moral standpoint.* OffWithHisHead: [[spoiler:Lord Inquisitor Kysnaros]] at the hands of [[spoiler:Logan Grimnar]].* OldShame: The Grey Knights refer to the months spent hunting down and slaughtering the fleeing guardsmen (And the billions of innocent people who came into contact with them) the Months of Shame.* PureIsNotGood: The Grey Knights fight against Chaos and are incorruptible, but they also actively take part in the subsequent purge of Armageddon and the system-wide Exterminatus operations in pursuit of the Space Wolf-aided guardsmen.* {{Protectorate}}: One of the first things Logan Grimnar does when he meets the Grey Knights and Inquisitors sent to Armageddon is make it explicitly clear that the guardsmen and civilians there are under his protection, and that he will brook no purges of them after the battle is over. When the Inquisition initiates a purge anyway it sets the stage for the war between the Space Wolves and the Adeptus Terra.* TheMagnificent: Hyperion is given the epithet ĎBladebreakerí by the Space Wolves after he psychically shatters Angronís Black Blade.* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight: Logan Grimnar and, to a lesser extent, Inquisitor Jarlsdottyr.* SpotlightStealingSquad: Arguably, the Space Wolves. Though mostly about the Grey Knights and, in particular, the rise to fame of one of their number, the book goes to great lengths to show the Space Wolves as being the nicer, more honourable and generally more tactically savvy than the protagonists in nearly every scene in which they appear. Having said that, this IS the Warhammer 40,000 universe, so concepts like "nice" and "heroic" are vague at best.* ThisIsUnforgivable: Logan Grimnar ordered his forces to never return fire during the campaign to shield the loyal guardsmen from the Inquisition and the Grey Knights, and was even willing to attend an armistice to discuss terms of de-escalating the conflict. All of this goes out of the window when the Inquisition fires on his flagship during said armistice, after which Grimnar vows to fight to the death.----